Panhellenic distinction in the "Olive Challenge" entrepreneurship competition for "Track4Value”

Olive Challenge 2022 by Filaios

One more entrepreneurship award for “Track4Value” in the Panhellenic competition of “Olive Challenge“, with the idea being ranked among the 11 most prevailed solutions with a high impact in the olive oil industry.

“Track4Value” aims to ensure authenticity through an integrated recording and monitoring system from the raw material to the final product, throughout the production process. In the olive oil sector in particular, the service aims to highlight the high nutritional value of the product, the strengthening of health claims, as established by the European Union (e.g. polyphenols, EU 432/2012), as well as the documentation of authenticity, thus combating counterfeit or mislabeling phenomena that often occur in the industry.

This entrepreneurship effort comes to strengthen and expand the multi-year effort of the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry (LAC) of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) to ensure the authenticity of olive oil, but also that of other food products, such as dairy products, honey, etc., with the use of advanced methodologies and holistic workflows. The LAC as well as the Center of Excellence “Agri-food and Food Authenticity” of NKUA, coordinated by Prof. Nikolaos S. Thomaidis, are the main pillars of support for this project. Key members of “Track4Value” are: the postdoctoral researcher at NKUA, Sofia K. Drakopoulou, Anastasia S. Kritikou, Ph.D. Candidate, and Prof. N. S. Thomaidis; the team is being distinguished for its high expertise in food authenticity of both natural products(such as olive oil) and food of animal origin (such as feta PDO).

This effort brings food tracking into the spotlight, being directly linked to the European policy “farm-to-fork” and the European strategy for digital and green transition. At the same time, it comes to strengthen actions to ensure the quality and highlight the added value of foods of national priority, such as olive oil and PDO feta cheese, as well as their competitiveness at an international level.

The “Olive Challenge” competition, which was held for the 3rd time, is the largest innovation competition for Greek agri-food business ideas and startups by “FILAIOS“. The “Olive Challenge” innovation and entrepreneurship competition is the first specialized innovation competition for the olive sector (https://filaios.org/draseis/olive-challenge/).

This award comes in addition to the distinctions of “Track4Value” team, both on national and European level by participating in the “Trophy-Τροφή (Food) Challenge” competitions of the “New Agriculture-New Generation”, as well as in the EIT Jumpstarter competition of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).